The ways in which examination standards are conceptualised and operationalised differently across nations has not been given sufficient attention. The international literature on standard-setting has been dominated by the psychometrics tradition. Broader conceptualisations of examination standards have been discussed in the literature in England,…

Language programs need multiple test forms for secure administrations and effective placement decisions, but can they have confidence that scores on alternate test forms have the same meaning? In large-scale testing programs, various equating methods are available to ensure the comparability of forms. The choice of equating method is informed by…

This paper compared technical/vocational education in: Germany, Australia, Finland, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, and Nigeria, and found that technical/vocational education was given proper attention in countries considered except Nigeria, where it was handled with laissez faire attitude. Set-Up of Technical/Vocational…

This simulation study was prompted by the current increased interest in linking national studies to international large-scale assessments (ILSAs) such as IEA's TIMSS, IEA's PIRLS, and OECD's PISA. Linkage in this scenario is achieved by including items from the international assessments in the national assessments on the premise that the average…

The main purpose of this study is to improve estimation efficiency in obtaining maximum marginal likelihood estimates of contextual effects in the framework of nonlinear multilevel latent variable model by adopting the Metropolis-Hastings Robbins-Monro algorithm (MH-RM). Results indicate that the MH-RM algorithm can produce estimates and standard…

The main purpose of this study is to improve estimation efficiency in obtaining maximum marginal likelihood estimates of contextual effects in the framework of nonlinear multilevel latent variable model by adopting the Metropolis-Hastings Robbins-Monro algorithm (MH-RM; Cai, 2008, 2010a, 2010b). Results indicate that the MH-RM algorithm can…

Testing subject has many subsets and connections. One important issue is how to assess or measure students or learners. What would be our tools, what would be our style, what would be our goal and so on. So in this paper the author attended to the style of testing in school and other educational settings. Since the purposes of educational system…

The main purpose of this study is to improve estimation efficiency in obtaining full-information maximum likelihood (FIML) estimates of contextual effects in the framework of a nonlinear multilevel latent variable model by adopting the Metropolis-Hastings Robbins-Monro algorithm (MH-RM; Cai, 2008, 2010a, 2010b). Results indicate that the MH-RM…

In this article, the change in examinee effort during an assessment, which we will refer to as persistence, is modeled as an effect of item position. A multilevel extension is proposed to analyze hierarchically structured data and decompose the individual differences in persistence. Data from the 2009 Program of International Student Achievement…

In July 2010, the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) voted to adopt Common Core's standards in English language arts (ELA) and mathematics in place of the state's own standards in these two subjects. The vote was based largely on recommendations by Commissioner of Education Mitchell Chester and then Secretary of…

Are U.S. and, in particular, Hoosier students competitive and ready to succeed in an ever-changing and increasingly global economic landscape? This question is frequently considered by K-12 education stakeholders at all levels, including national, state, and local officials. One of the central ways in which education systems can compare themselves…

The Talent Search model, founded at Johns Hopkins University by Dr. Julian C. Stanley, is fundamentally an above-level testing program. This simplistic description belies the enduring impact that the Talent Search model has had on the lives of hundreds of thousands of gifted students as well as their parents and teachers. In this article, we…

Two different versions of "big ideas" rooted content maps have recently been published for general chemistry. As embodied in the content outline from the College Board, one of these maps is designed to guide curriculum development and testing for advanced placement (AP) chemistry. The Anchoring Concepts Content Map for general chemistry…

This paper explores how the strong policy push to improve students' results on national literacy and numeracy tests -- the National Assessment Program, Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) -- in the Australian state of Queensland influenced schooling practices, including teachers' learning. The paper argues the focus upon improved test scores on NAPLAN…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the combined effects of reduced equating sample size and shortened anchor test length on item response theory (IRT)-based linking and equating results. Data from two independent operational forms of a large-scale testing program were used to establish the baseline results for evaluating the results from…